Rodríguez: Program aims at youth voter turnout

by Sen. José Rodríguez, in the El Paso Times—

When I first was elected in 2010, I established advisory committees made up of engaged members of the community who wished to deliberate issues and advise my office on legislative and other matters.

As any member of the committees can attest, I do not always agree with their conclusions, but they have an open door to my office and I have found them to be an invaluable resource.

Together, we have passed legislation, created the Mano y Corazon series of health care conferences, worked with the U.S. Green Building Council-Chihuahuan Desert Chapter to produce the first GRO Conference, which had its second annual event just this last Saturday, and exchanged information and advocacy on issues involving education, health care, environment and sustainable energy, veterans, and heritage tourism.

Recently, we added another committee – the Youth Advisory Committee. And this group designed an incredible program, the Student Voter Initiative, aimed at getting their peers out to vote.

Voter turnout in El Paso is well below average, with only 9 percent of eligible voters having voted this past May. Moreover, 51 million eligible Americans are not registered to vote; low-income voters, people of color, and younger Americans are disproportionately included in this figure.

In 2012, 18- to 29 year olds made up 23.9 percent of El Paso County’s voting age population, but comprised only 21.7 percent of registered voters and 14.6 percent of actual voters.

We thought that if we could register young adults and motivate them to vote, not only would that increase voter turnout, it would build a foundation for future civic engagement. Studies show that once people start voting, especially if they start young, it becomes a lifelong habit.

In August, I sent all District 29 superintendents a letter reminding them that by state law, every student must have an opportunity to register, and urging them to work with us on the two parts of the Student Voter Initiative: Register students, and present the Youth Advisory Committee-developed, non-partisan lesson plan that is meant to inspire the newly registered students to vote.

The idea is youth talking with youth; the lesson plan begins with discussing laws or rules in students’ everyday lives that they would like to change.

From there, the discussion hones in on an issue – in this case, it was a four-day week with longer hours each day. The students debate the issue, and then the students and teachers/administrators present vote.

We then count only 20 percent of the vote, because that is the number of eligible voters who typically cast ballots, but make sure to include the teacher/administrator votes.

It makes quite an impression when the students realize that the decision for all of them was made by only 20 percent of them, and that the teacher/administrator vote counted disproportionately.

The Ysleta Independent School District responded first, offering to pilot the project.

My office helped the district make sure they had volunteer deputy registrars designated for each campus, and in the process, we also learned that every high school principal is, by default, a volunteer deputy registrar.

We also worked with schools to schedule presentations, and discussed how to follow up with students, including finding out whether they voted.

Now that YISD has shown how it can be done – with more than 800 students registered and 1,000 given presentations – we have a model that is replicable and scalable.

With an election coming up in November, we have an opportunity to see results.

Further, YISD and the other districts that have responded – El Paso, Canutillo, Fabens, Presidio, and Tornillo – have stated their support for doing this over the long term, which means over a period of years we should be able to show an increase in voters age 18-25 in El Paso County.

It would be wonderful for El Paso to set the model that can be followed by schools across the state, while increasing participation, which becomes a lifelong habit, in our community.

José Rodríguez represents District 29, which includes El Paso County, in the Texas Senate.

« »